Stop the Governments 'Go Home Campaign'

In July 2013, the UK Home Office introduced a campaign called 'Go Home'. The campaign targeted six areas of London with two vans, with large billboards with the message 'Go Home or Face Arrest'. The billboards were allegedly targeting those who were 'illegal' or undocumented in the UK. The following week there was also an intensification of immigration spot checks at major transport hubs in the capital. The Go Home Campaign is part of a Government campaign that has caused a national outcry, and infuriated a cross section of communities.

Human rights organisations have said the government's targeting of illegal immigrants over the past two weeks is a cynical ploy that will foster hostility to minority groups, creating a climate of fear and intolerance that threatens to put race relations back decades.

Three Public Meetings: Support Immigrants in London

The Refugee and Migrant Forum of East London( RAMFEL ) and Migrants' Rights Network (MRN) have joined forces to run a series of public workshops across London to support migrant and refugee community organisations, activists and interested individuals ot campaign agaisdt the 'Go Home' campaign and the summer of attacks on immigrants.

6:00 to 9:00 pm Tuesday 13 th August 2013
Open University In London· 1-11 Hawley Crescent· Camden Town· London NE1 8NP

6:00 to 9:00 pm Tuesday 20 th August 2013
Room 144· Richard Hoggett Building· Goldsmiths· New Cross· London SE14 6NW

6:00 to 9:00 pm Wednesday 21st August 2013
RB.G.13· Universityof East London· Stratford Campus· Water Lane • London E15 4LZ

- These short two hour sessions will:

- Provided an update on what has happened

- Sophie Natalin from Bhat Murphy will explain the rights of those targeted by immigration checks and 'Stop and search'

Explain what groups and individuals can do to campaign on a local and national level, including how to lobby elected members and decision makers to make sue anti immigration activity is monitored in your local area.

- How to respond to the current various national consultations that will affect migrants

To RSVP or for further information contact Lucy Mercer on 0208 478 4513 or Email event@ramfel.org.uk

Meetings Called by:
Migrants' Rights Network (MRN) Working For The Rights Of All Migrants
Academics and Activists Against Racism and Xenophobia
Bhatt Murphy Solicitors
Deighton Pierce Glynn
Refugee and Migrant Forum of East London (RAMFEL )

Claims Certified as Unfounded
A person may appeal whilst in the United Kingdom where an asylum or human rights claim has been made but not where there has been certification of that claim or claims as clearly unfounded. Certification under s.94 (2) operates even where a claimant seeks to rely on grounds available to a party under s. 84 of the 2002 Act. It is the claim (which may comprise asylum and human rights elements) that is certified, not the decision made on the claim, regardless of any grounds which might otherwise be raised against that decision.

Swiss Introduce Apartheid-for Refugees Seeking Asylum

Switzerland's local authorities have introduced draconian restrictions which ban asylum-seekers from frequenting public places such as school playgrounds, swimming pools and libraries in a move angrily denounced by human rights groups as intolerable and racist.

In the town of Bremgarten west of Zurich, where a new centre for asylum-seekers opened last month, officials said refugees would not be allowed to "loiter" in school playgrounds and would be banned from visiting public swimming pools, playing fields and a church. A total of 32 "exclusion zones" have been drawn up.

Raymond Tellenbach, the town's mayor, told the German broadcaster ARD: "We have decided on security grounds not to allow access to these areas, to prevent conflict and guard against possible drug use."

Mario Gattiker, the head of Switzerland's Federal Office of Immigration which endorsed the apartheid-style restrictions, justified the move to journalists saying: "We need rules to ensure a peaceful and orderly coexistence of residents and asylum-seekers."
Read more: <> Indpendent, 07/08/13

Garden Court Chambers - Immigration Law Bulletin - Issue 336

UKBA: Country of Origin Information Report - Somalia
This Country of Origin Information (COI) report has been produced by the COI Service, Home Office, for use by officials involved in the asylum/human rights determination process. The report provides background information about the issues most commonly raised in asylum/human rights claims made in the United Kingdom. The main body of the report includes information available up to 26 June 2013.

<> Published on Refworld, 5 August 2013

"Racist and Intimidatory" Spot Checks

Home Office officials have conducted a series of "racist and intimidatory" spot checks to search for illegal immigrants in the wake of the Government's "go home or face arrest" campaign.

Officers wearing stab vests have conducted random stop-and-check operations near stations in the London suburbs of Walthamstow, Kensal Green, Stratford and Cricklewood over the past three days.

The Home Office denied that the raids were connected to its new controversial poster van warning immigrants of the risk of staying in Britain illegally. However, officials could provide no evidence of similar "random searches" taking place in the past.

Onlookers described their shock at the operations, with one member of the public saying it was akin to "Nazi Germany". Witnesses who saw the operations in London claimed the officers stopped only non-white individuals, and in Kensal Green said that when questioned, the immigration officials became aggressive.

Read More: <>  Oliver Wright, Indpendent, Thursday 01/08/13

Bangladesh: Security Forces Kill 150 Protesters, Injure Thousands

Bangladeshi security forces have frequently used excessive force in responding to street protests, killing at least 150 protesters and injuring at least 2,000 more since February 2013. While large numbers of protesters have been arrested, the Bangladeshi authorities have made no meaningful efforts to hold members of the security forces accountable.

The 48-page report, "Blood On The Streets: The Use of Excessive Force During Bangladesh Protests," is based on 95 interviews with victims and their family members, witnesses, human rights defenders, journalists, and lawyers. The report documents case after case in which police, the paramilitary Rapid Action Battalion (RAB), and the Border Guards Bangladesh (BGB) opened fire into crowds or beat protesters in a brutal and unlawful manner. In some cases, security forces carried out extrajudicial executions. Human Rights Watch also documented the killing of at least a dozen members of the security forces and police officers over the course of the protests, as well as three members of the ruling Awami League party.
Read more: <> Human Rights Watch, 01/08/13

Jimmy Mubenga Coroner Issues Damning Report On Deportations

A coroner who oversaw the inquest into the death of the Angolan deportee Jimmy Mubenga has issued a highly critical report that raises a series of concerns about the way the government and private contractors deport people from the UK. Mubenga, 46, died after being restrained by three G4S guards on board a plane at Heathrow airport that was bound for Angola in October 2010. Last month, at the end of an eight-week inquest, a jury of seven men and three women recorded a majority verdict of nine to one of unlawful killing after four days of deliberations.

The coroner, Karon Monaghan, has now written a 30-page "rule 43 report" setting out recommendations to avoid future deaths in which she raises concerns about:

¥ A system of payment that rewards guards if they can keep a detainee quiet until the aircraft takes off;

¥ Evidence of "pervasive racism" among G4S detention custody officers who were tasked with removing detainees;

¥ Fears that these racist attitudes Ð and "loutish, laddish behaviour É Inappropriate language, and peer pressure" Ð are still common among escort guards today;

¥ Lack of "scenario specific" training for those tasked with trying to restrain people on aircrafts;

¥ Evidence of the use of dangerous restraint techniques such as "carpet karaoke" where detainees' heads are forced downwards to prevent them upsetting the passengers or causing the captain to abort the removal;

¥ and concern that many guards were not officially accredited to carry out removals meaning they would have been acting illegally.

Matthew Taylor, guardian.com, 04/08/13

Justice for Houcine and Alma
13 years of struggle to achieve safety and a Manchester family are still living on tenterhooks each day in their Moss Side home after the Home Office refused their asylum and human rights claim on July 12 th.

Three days later, on July 15th, the father, Houcine, who is originally from Algeria, began a hunger strike. Drinking only water, he is at home with his Bosnian wife, Alma, and their three children, all of who were born in the UK. The eldest child is 11 and is a British citizen.

The Home Office say that Houcine cannot stay here because of a conviction handed down by an Italian court, which was undefended and for which Houcine has since been pardoned.
News From RAPAR read more <>here . . . .

AH (Article 1F(b) – 'Serious') Algeria v. SSHD

Overall, we are satisfied that there are serious reasons to consider that the appellant committed a serious crime in France before coming to the United Kingdom and as a consequence, that he is excluded from the protection of refugee status and subsidiary humanitarian protection.

Exclusion under Article 1F(b)
1. In considering exclusion under Article 1F(b), the test is whether there are 'serious reasons to consider that the appellant is guilty of conduct that amounts to a serious non-political offence'. 'Serious' in this context has an autonomous international meaning and is not to be defined purely by national law or the length of the sentence. Guidance on the meaning of 'serious' in relation to Article IF(c) may be found in the decision of the Supreme Court in AlSirri and another v Secretary of State for the Home Department[2012J UKSC 54 at paragraph [75J. Arts IF(a) and (c) serve to illustrate the level of seriousness required to engage Article IF(b); the genus of seriousness is at a common level throughout.

2. A claimant's personal participation in acts leading to exclusion under Article IF(b) must be established to the ordinary civil standard of proof, that the material facts are more probable than not. The appellant's guilt need not be proved to the criminal standard. Personal participation in a conspiracy to promote terrorist violence can be a 'serious crime' for the purpose of Article IF(b). Where the personal acts of participation by a claimant take the form of assistance to others who are planning violent crimes, the nature of the acts thereby supported can be taken into account. The relevant crime may be an agreement to commit the criminal acts (in English law a conspiracy), rather than a choate crime.

3. In the absence of some strikingly unfair procedural defect, United Kingdom courts and tribunals should accord a significant degree of respect to the decision of senior sister Courts in European Union legal systems; there is a particular degree of mutual confidence and trust between legal systems that form part of the same legal order within the European Union. However, the ultimate question of whether the conduct of which the United Kingdom court or Tribunal is satisfied is sufficiently serious to justify exclusion is a matter for the national court or tribunal.

4. The examination of seriousness should be directed at the criminal acts when they were committed, although events in the supervening passage of time may be relevant to whether exclusion is justified: a formal pardon, or subsequent acquittal, or other event illuminating the nature of the activity may be relevant to this assessment. Despite suggestions to the contrary by respected commentators, it does not appear to be the case that service of the sentence, or indeed a final acquittal, brings the application of the exclusion clause to an end.
<> Published on Refworld, 05/08/13

Judge Orders Release Of Hunger-Strike Asylum Seeker

A high court judge has ordered that an asylum seeker on hunger strike be freed from detention, amid warnings that he is at risk of imminent death.

Samuel Sorinwa, 27, began his hunger strike last month and refused liquids for at least 11 days but the Home Office ignored assessments by staff at Harmondsworth detention centre that he was unfit to be detained and refused to release him.

On Thursday, Frances Patterson QC, sitting as a deputy high court judge in central London, dealt a blow to the Home Office, ruling that Sorinwa be released into hospital on bail.
Read more: Haroon Siddique, <>The Guardian, Thursday 1 August 2013

Continuing Conflicts that Create Refugees - July 2013

7 actual or potential conflict situations around the world deteriorated and none improved in July 2013, according to the new issue of CrisisWatch 120.

Deteriorated Situations: Bangladesh, DR Congo, Egypt, Iraq, South Sudan, Tunisia

Download the full report: <> CR120.pdf

Iraq: July Deadliest for Five Years - Violence Kills Over 1,000 People
A total of 1,057 Iraqis were killed and another 2,326 were wounded in acts of terrorism and violence in the month of July, according to figures released today by the United Nations. The number of civilians killed was 928, including 204 civilian police, while the number of civilians injured was 2,109, including 338 civilian police, the UN Assistance Mission for Iraq (UNAMI) said in a news release. A further 129 members of the Iraqi Security Forces were killed and 217 were injured.

"The impact of violence on civilians remains disturbingly high, with at least 4,137 civilians killed and 9,865 injured since the beginning of 2013," the Acting Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Iraq, Gyorgy Busztin, warned. We haven't seen such numbers in more than five years, when the blind rage of sectarian strife that inflicted such deep wounds upon this country was finally abating, I reiterate my urgent call on Iraq's political leaders to take immediate and decisive action to stop the senseless bloodshed, and to prevent these dark days from returning."
<> Refworld: 01/08/13